Philadelphia, PA

Yay for a new posting category! Philly Films is about movies and tv shows set and/or filmed in Philadelphia. Hollywood and New York may be the filming hot spots, but Philadelphia has served as a backdrop for many blockbuster films beyond the obvious; Philadelphia, and all trillion of the Rocky movies….well, 5 of 6.

Today’s film… or films rather, come from Director M. Night Shyamalan. He filmed so many here that I’m gonna group him together so I don’t have to keep mentioning him.

Wide Awake
Shyamalan’s first major film was shot here in Philadelphia and follows a young boy’s search for God after his grandfather dies, a story told quietly, driven by dialogue. Although Wide Awake was made in 1995, it was not released until 1998 where it grossed a total of only $288,000 against a production budget of $7 million.

The Sixth Sense
In 1999, his second major film proved to be more of a success. The Sixth Sense is a supernatural drama about a psychologist (Bruce Willis) who blames himself for a patient’s suicide and his own broken marriage. Upon meeting a disturbed child (Haley Joel Osment) who claims to see people who have died, the psychologist feels he has a chance to redeem himself. The Movie was was filmed throughout Philadelphia including Boathouse Row and the streets of Center City.

Unbreakable
His next film, Unbreakable, is a drama about David Dunn (Bruce Willis), the sole survivor of a train crash, and his encounters with comic-book collector Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), who is convinced that Dunn has latent superpowers. The stadium where Bruce Willis’ character works as a security guard was filmed in University City at the historic Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Mr. Glass’ infamous fall down the train steps occurs at the nearby SEPTA University City train station on the Spruce Street entrance. Theres also a scene filmed at 30th Street station, where Dunn decides to put his power to use. Unfortunately, this film did not live up the the same hype as its predecessor.

Signs
In August of 2002, Shyamalan was able to regain the same success he had with The Sixth Sense in his film, Signs. Filmed on a farm in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Signs is a science fiction drama of a rural Pennsylvania pastor (Mel Gibson) who has lost his faith after his wife’s death caused by Ray Reddy (played by M. Night Shyamalan), a driver who fell asleep at the wheel. However, he manages to regain his faith with his family as they witness the worldwide events of an alien invasion.

The Village
In 2004, Shyamalan shot his 5th movie to be filmed in south eastern Pennsylvania, The Village, in rural Chadds Ford. The Village is a drama starring Joaquin Phoenix, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Adrien Brody, it tells of a small, 19th-century community (we see the tombstone of a boy is being laid to rest in the opening of the film that reads 1890–1897) run by a group of “Elders” who seem to be content in their isolation from the outside world. The village is encircled by a forest said to be filled with mysterious and threatening creatures. Even as an uneasy truce between the villagers and the creatures seems to be falling apart, one villager (Phoenix) starts to question their forced isolation.

Lady in the Water
In 2006, Shyamalan released his most recent Philly film, Lady in the Water. It’s a fantasy about a Philadelphia apartment-complex maintenance man, Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti), who discovers a young woman named Story (Bryce Dallas Howard) in the swimming pool. Gradually, he and others in the complex learn that she is a water nymph who has come to “the world of man” to bring inspiration to someone in the complex. Her life is in danger from a vicious, wolf-like, mystical creature that tries to keep her from returning to her watery “blue world”. Shyamalan established a production facility at the Jacobson Logistics warehouse site in nearby Levittown, Pennsylvania, where sets for the apartment complex and a half city block of row houses were built. Occasional footage was shot inside the overflow area of the warehouse. Most of the filming was completed after work hours.

It’s not just a coincidence that M. Night Shyamalan films most of his movies in and around Philadelphia, he happens to be one of our Famous Philadelphians. Shyamalan was born in Mahé, Puducherry, India where he spent the first 6 weeks of his life, before moving to Penn Valley, Pennsylvania, an affluent Main Line suburb of Philadelphia. As of mid 2006, Shyamalan lives in Wayne, Pennsylvania with his wife and two daughters.

Philadelphia movies, filmed in Philadelphia, M. Night Shyamalan, Wide Awake, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, Lady in the Water